Oceanside

February 12 - March 8

By Nick Gandiello

The past never lets go.

A Compelling New Family Drama

Gwen thought she had successfully walked away from her troubled past. But then her ex-husband returns with news of their grown daughter’s disappearance and with him come the demons that she sought to erase from her idyllic new life. A powerful drama that explores complex family dynamics.

“Director Melia Bensussen (who directed The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead and Two Jews Walk into a War at MRT) is one of my closest collaborators. She sent me this play by an up-and-coming young playwright who is unsparing in looking at the real drama of troubled lives. I responded immediately to the family situation and to the central question at the heart of the play: can people really change?” says MRT Artistic Director Charles Towers.

Mr. Gandiello's plays include Sunrise Highway (Ojai Playwrights Conference), Black Fly Spring (Xavier University), Swept (Williamstown Theatre Festival), At the Finish (Smith and Kraus's The Best 10 Minute Plays of 2014), and Teeming Shore (The Best 10 Minute Plays of 2015). He holds an MFA from The New School for Drama, where his play Off the Realness received a workshop production. He is an alum of the Ars Nova Play Group. Twice a Finalist for the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, he attended the company's Summer Residency at Yale and was a member of the 2014 I-73 Writers Group. He has attended residencies at The Blue Mountain Center and SPACE on Ryder Farm. For the screen, Nick developed and shot a television pilot, Substance, with Ready Set Go Productions. As a teaching artist, he led the Naked Angels 3 Thursdays Summer Style. Nick is currently the Literary Manager of Young Playwrights Inc., for which he has led playwriting workshops in Virginia, Miami, and NYC. His deepest thanks to Mom, Chris, Sue, and Ken for their support; Kellie for her love; Alexis, Melia, and Charles for believing in this play; the cast for their work; and you for coming to see this.

MRT:Memory House, Two Jews Walk Into A War, The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Aunt Dan & Lemon, Something in the Air. Boston: Awake and Sing, Luck of the Irish (IRNE Award Best New Play), Circle Mirror Transformation, Huntington Theatre; The Cherry Orchard, Twelfth Night (Norton Award for Best Production, 2012), Merchant of Venice, Taming of the Shrew, Actors Shakespeare Project; Not Enough Air by Masha Obolensky, Nora Theatre Company. Off-Broadway: Numerous productions at Primary Stages, Manhattan Class Company (MCC), Playwrights Horizons, Bay Street (Sag Harbor), Women’s Project, New York Shakespeare Festival, among others. Regional: Baltimore Centerstage, La Jolla Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, People’s Light and Theatre Company (Barrymore nomination for Best Director), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), San Jose Repertory Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival, New York Stage and Film, and numerous summers at the O’Neill Theatre Conference. International: Festival Internacional de Teatro, Havana, Cuba; American delegate to the former Czechoslovakia. Other: She is the recipient of an OBIE Award for Best Direction and a Princess Grace Foundation Directing grant, as well as their Statuette Award. Her edition of the Langston Hughes translation of Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding is published by Theatre Communications Group. Ms. Bensussen is featured in Women Directors Speak by Rebecca Daniels and Women Direct Shakespeare by Nancy Taylor. She is Chair of the Performing Arts Department at Emerson College, Boston.